C    2 


LJLl 


w 


1  1)0     . 


' 

;  and    HH<{    u-ppre-cialo 
wili  n  "hem  Tor  not.  iii.>in--  u  . 

if.      I  fall  : 
•hoitid  not  know  u }\u t 


•  >\V11     i;:i'  IVC     IfltVl, 

•  jlcclion    would     convince    rn 
:  iii^h  liopo,  (as  [  rlii1 
snay  !H'  in  this.  .in  tin'  Ion*-  r;n:.  iis  sudd  ' 
.   .     IT  t!ir\ 


all   pers 

not    surlus    shi 


noih'    fuuijh  in  t 


in  many  tinu  s  fen  days.    \\ 

all.  anil  keep  them  a 
[.-  it  quite 
j   ; 
at  ai:; 

j 
cially,  ourf  quals?      \!  \  o\vu   feelings  will  uot  art» 

mil  of  this;  and  il'miiK-  woidd,  we  well  know  that  j 
those  oi   i'ne  ureat  mas-  of  white  ucuple  will  ; 
\\  ln:the:  this  Irejing    accords   wifh  justice 
>ound  jtid^nieni,  is  n<»t  t!ie  sole   question,  it'   in- 1 
deed,  it.  is  any  pap  o|   jr.     A    universal    louliujr,  1 
wheiln:r.  well  or  ill-found  -d,  can    not     be    safely 
disivg'ard'.'d.     \\'e  caa  nut,  then. 

';    ('  items   of ' 

laiicipaliun    might  be   aeluplei!  ;  but 
s  in  this,  i   will    not  'undertake 
ilgc  our  brethren  of  the  .south. 


lit  the  course  of  his  reply.  Senator  iKw^las  re 
marked,  in  -ubstanee,  thai  he  had  always  consid 
ered  thi.«    govei iimrnt    was    made   for    the  white 
people  and  not  for  the  fi"gro»'s.      Why,    in  point 
t»l'  ni'-iv  t-i'-t,  1  think  s<>  too.     But  in  this  remark 
of  the«hidrure.  there  i*,  >i  <i^tiincanci',  which  1  think 
i.-j  the  key  to    the  j.rr<-iit.    inisiakc  (if  there    is  any 
<ueii  inistuke'i  whirli    he    has   jnade    in  thi.-i  Ne 
braska  incasurr.      it  shows  that    tin;   Judg\i  has 
nu  very  vivid   impn-ssinn  that  t!i<-  ne^rro  is  a  hu 
man  ;  and   e<>n.>e<5uent!y   lia.->   im  id<-a    that   tliciv 
•  cjui  l.'e  any  moral   qwrtiori    in    legislating  about 
him.     In    his  view,    the  question    of  whether  a 
|  ne&country  shall  !><•  slave  <>r  fn-e,  is  a  mat  KM*  of 
us  utter  Hidi'iK-reneo;-  n^1  it  is  svhrtht/r  his  IK  ighbor 
a'liall  plant    his  I'urm  with    tubaeeo,   or    trto»-k   it 
with  horned    cattle.      Now,  whether  this  view  is 
rijrht  or  wr'-ivj-,   it  j--;  very  <%|.'rta.in  thnt  the  great 
muss  of  mankind  take  a,  totally  tlilli.-ivnt   view. — 
I  I'hey  consider  slavery  a  grout  moral  wron^  ;  and 
1  their   ieelin,Lr;s  u^ainsi  i?..  is   not    evanetcrnt,  but 
''.eternal.     It   lie^  at  the  very  foundation  of  their 
i  if  justice  ;   and  it  cannot  be  trilled  with. — 
!t   is    a    groat    and    durable  element    of  popular 
action,  ai;d,  1  think,  110  Hlatesmau  cau  safely  dis 
regard  it. 


A^Ld^oV 


J& 


/•? 


•>H 


^ 


miido  for  white  men 

made    for    \v!iite  mm 
it  in  a  shape  in  which  no  one  wante  to  deny 
it^  }rit.  9  into  his  passion 

it  warranted. 
I  !, !•.>»••. t    MOW  and  forever.  aKftinst  that  eount- 


There  arc  "white  wen  enough -to  inarr^* 
wbivc  women,  umi  black  inc-u  enon^h  i 
ry  all  the  black  womei>,  and  in  God's  name  let 
thc-m    ]>o  so  married.     The  Judge  resiles  us 
with    tbo    terrible  enormities  that  take  place 
by    the  mixture    of  races;   that  the  inferior 
race  bears  tin1  superior  fluv,'i).     Why,  Judge, 
ii'  we  will  not  let  them  jret  together  in  the  Ter- 
thi-y  wont  mix  there.     [Immense  ap 
plause.]     • 

A  voice — "  Three  eheers  for  Lincoln." — 
[The  cheers  were  given  with  a  heartv  good 
will.] 

Mr  LiiK-oln — T  should  say  at  least  that  is  a 
self-evident  trurh. 

X'»w,  it  happens  that  We  meet  together  once 
every  year,  sometime  nbout  the  4th  of  July, 
for  some  reason  or  other.  These  -Jth  of  July 
gatherhigs,  1  suppose,  have  their  us»-s.  If 
you  wit!  indulge  me,  I  will  state  what  I  sup- 
io  be  some  of  them. 


•""We  arc  now  a  mighty  nation,  we  arc  thirty 
— or  about  Thirty  millions  of  people,  ami  we 
own  and  inhabit  about  a  fifteenth  part  of  the 
whole  earth.    .We  run  our  memory  back  over 
the   pages    of  history  for   about    eighty-two 
years  ami  we  discover  that  we  were  then  a  ve 
ry   f-mall   people    in  point  of  numbers,  vastly 
inferior  to  what  we  are  now,  with  a  vastly  less 
extent    of  country — with  vastly  less  of  every 
thing   we   deem    desirable    among  men — we 
look   upon  tho  change  as  exceedingly  advan- 
t;ip"Mi-5  to  us  mid  to  our  posterity,  and  we  iix 
OjX  n  -"inething  that  happened  away  back,  as  , 
in    some   way   or  other  being  connected  with  j 
tlii.s    rise  of  prosperity.      We   find   a  race  of  | 
men  living  at  that  day  whom  we  claim  as  our  I 
fathers    and    grandfathers  ;   they  were  'iron  ! 
men  ;  they  iV.ught  for   the  principle  that  they  ! 
were  contending  for  ;   and  we  understand  that 
by   what  they  then  did   it  has  followed  that 
the  degree  of  prosperity  that  we  now  enjoj' 
has,  come  to  us.     We  hold  this  annual  cele- 
i    to  remind  ourselves   of  all  the  good 
done  in  this  process  of  time,  of  how  it  was 
done  !:!i<l  who   did  it,  and  how  we  are  histori 
cally  connected  with  it ;  and  we  go  from  these 
meetings  in  better  humor  with  ourselves  ;  we 
feel  more  attached  the  one  to  the  other,  and 
more  firmly  bound  to  the  country  we  inhabit. 
In  every  way   wo  are  better  men  in  the  age, 
and  race,  and  country  in  which   we  live  for 
these   celebrations.     But  after  we  have  done 
all  this  we  have  not  yet  reached  the  whole. 
There  is  something  else  connected  with  it. — 
We  have  besides   these    men — descended  by 
blood  from  our  ancestors — among  us  perhaps  j 
half  our  people  who   are   not  descendants  at  j 
all  of  these  men  ;  they  are  men  who  have  come  [ 
from    Europe — German,    Irish,    French    and 
Scandinavians — men    that   have    come  from 
Europe  themselves   or  whose  ancestors  have 
come  hither  and  settled  here,    finding  them- 


back  through  this  history  to  true    the     c on 
nsctions  with  those  days  by  blood    they  fti 
they  have  none,  they  cannot  carry  U 
back  into  that  glorious  epoch  and  make  them 
selves    feel    that    they    are    part  of us, but 
when  they  look  through  that  old  D- 
of  Independence  they  find  that  thos^ old  men 
«av  that  "We    hold  these  truths  to  bo  self- 
evident  that  all  men  are  created  equa 
then  they  feel  that  moral  sentiment  taug      m 
tl.  it  day  evidences  their  relation  to   hose  men, 
that  "it  is  the    father  of  all  mora    pnneiple 
in   them,  and  that  they  have  a  right  to  cl 
it    as    though    they    were   blood    of 
and  ilesh  of  the  flesh  of  the  man  who  wrote 
that  Declaration— Bond  and  long  applaus 
and  so  they  arc.     ThatXs  the  electric 
in  that  Declaration  links  the  hearts  o    pah  - 
otic  and  liberty-loving  men  together,  that  w  L 
link    tho.e   patriotic   hearts  as  long    as  the 
love  of  freedom  exists  in  the  minds  oi  men 
throughout  the  world.     [Applause.  J 

Now,  sirs,  for    the    purp.se     of  squaring 
things  with  this  idea  of  '  don't  care  it  slave 
ry  isNoted  up  or  voted  down/;  for  *u j  aimug 
the  Dred  Scott  decision,  [A  voice-"  Hit  him 
again,"]  for  holding  that  the  ^clarahon  of 
i  Independence   did  not  mean  anything 
we  have  Jute  Douglas  giving  his  exposi 
of    what    the    Declaration    of  Independence 
means,  and  we  have  him  Baying  it  means  sim- 


I  di-cn  and  repeated  to  them,  do  n 
I  out   the  sentiment  of  liberty  m 
!  and  to  transform  this  government  u. 
Lcrnmentofsomeotberforra?     *  hat  arc 


arguments  that  arc  made,  that  the  inferior 
race  are  to  be  treated  with  as  much  allow 
ance  as  they  are  capable  of  enjoying;  that  as 
much  is,  to  be  done  for  them  as  their  conditi 
on  will  allow  ?  They  are  the  arguments  that 
king.-*  have  made  for  enslaving  the  people  in 
all  ages  of  the  world.  Yon  will  find  that  all 
the  arguments  in  favor  of  kingcraft  were  of 
this  elans  ;  they  always  bestrode  the  neeks  of 
the  people,  hot  that  they  wanted  to  doit,  but 
because  the  people  were  better  off  for  being 
ridden.  That  is  their  argument  and  this  ar 
gument  of  the  Judge  is  the  same  old  serpent 
that  says  you  work  and  I  eat,  you,  toil  and  I 
will  e;ij<»y  the  fruits  of  it. 

Turn  it  whatever  way  yon  will— -whether it 
come  from  the  mouth  of  a  king,  as  excuse  for 
enslaving  the  people  of  his  country  or  from 
the  mouth  of  men  o-f  one  race  as  a  reason  for 
enslaving  the  men  of  another  race,  it  is  all 
the  same  old  serpent,  and  [hold  if  that  course 
of  argumentation  which  is  made  for  the  pur 
pose  of  convincing  the  public  mind  that  we 
should  not  care  about  this,  should  be  granted, 
it  does  not  stop  with  the  negro.  I  should 
like  to  know  if  taking  this  old  Declaration  of 
Independence,  which  declares  that  all  men 
are  equal  upon  principle  and  no  making  ex 
ception  to  it,  where  will  it  stop?  If  one  man 
says  it  does  not  mean  a  negro,  why  may  not 
another  say  it  docs  not  mean  some  other  man  ? 
If  that  declaration  is  not  truth  let  us  get  the 
statute  book  in  which  we  find  it  and  tear  it  out ! 
Who  is  so  bold  as  to  do  it  ?  If  it  is  not  true 
let  us  bear  it  out!  [Cries  of  "  no,  no,"] 
Lot  us  stick  to  it  then.  [(  heers.]  Let  us 
stand  firmly  by  it  then.  [Applause.] 


It   maybe  arjjfii'.'d  tii; 
iti<-.ns  that  ii!-;kc  i 
pun  us,  and  to  rhe  ex 
••  >j -I.  •  ••  !  upon  a  man  li 

think  that  was  the 


My  lYM-nds,  I  Imvo  d«-t:im«'d  yoti  about  as 

:     .      iivl  {'/ <ln,  it't'i  {   iiav  •  sijilv  to  J-'iiV, 

disoAixl  nl!  this  qaibbiing  about  this  man 

:  and  the  cthi'i-   IMHU- --t.Iii>  )-;iro  :ui'l    (haf  race 

nHtl    tht?    otlii.'i'  I'.'icc  hfinj;  iiifcriur,  jiiiil  fhcrc- 

i'Ti-  tlioy  IIHI  ,t  !•"  placed    in  nn  inf'"rioi-   pohi- 

[itcdi-drnj!    ().<•  strm.hnl   \v«;   hare  )<-ft 

•i         Lot  u     ti     -n'l  all  f  !"•  ••  thing.i,  mcl  unito 

''•••'in   ii:i     1  ui'l.  until  \\c 


My  frJcmK  I  ccAild  not  without  launching 
off  upon  some  new  topic,  "which  "would  detain 
Y'.u  90  lunjr,  continue  to-night.  [Cries  of  "go 
Oth". J,  I  thank  you  for  this  most  extensive 
audience  "\vhich  you  have  furnished  me  to 
night.  (  h',ave  ytiu,  hoping  that  the  lamp  of 
liberty  will  burn  in  your  bosoms  until  there 
.shall  no  longer  be  a  doubt  that  all  men  are 
created  free  and  equal. 

Mr.  Lincoln  retired  amid  a  perfect  torrent 
I  of  applause  and  cheers. 


QL 


J      * 

fli-  —  *\, 


~      /sr* 

A-V     ^f^^^j    J 


l--:  .,  -uctence,  tn  •  ngui  j«  • 
bappir  t'-s-^    L^°" 

niUV-   eewitb  Judge  J 


- 


> 

/ 


'&•/*'  L-CsT^SI^A 

" 


.  /?-  /££&! 


t  ^ 


1  will  SHY  th 
been  in  lavor  of   1 
the  -  .-•!..!  and  f.i;l 


vc 

biir  in  regard   to  it. 
1   M.,1    nnr  cvcv  have 


~.  gqU  ,\ny  of  the  white 

...  /   r  ,  ,i.laa-"]--tha*,  I  am  not 

or  jurors  of  negroes,  nor  of  qnalifying  them 

to  hold  office,  n..r  to  intermarry  with  white 

:  ui'd  I  will  say  in  addition  to  il 

there   i.s   a    physical    -liiV'  , cnee   beween  U 
white  and  black  race-  u  hir'i  I  beliere  Will 
ever  forbid  the   two  races  living  together  OL 
terms  of  social  and  political  equality   And 
iiiasiiiuch   as  thev  cannot..   HO  live,  while,  tut;^ 
do  r<-i:i  iln  to  ;etner  th»rc  i'"1-"'    Ti..»   th'-  ]-.«»si- 
tionor.-v,!-  ;•..-  u..-;  I,.,->  .:,„.  .,,,.1  i  ;l-  much  us 


saperior  position  i^.-i::;;!' •'   to  thewni 
I  say  upoa  this  oocaeioD   <    d(>  H'-'    per 
that  because   the  whito  man   18  1^   w 
superior  position  the  negro  should  ^  denied 
everythine.         1    du    not,    uudevstaud    tliat 
because  I  do  not  want  A  r.e^vo  woimui  for  a 
^iave   I  mn?t  nece^.uily  want  her  tor  a  wife. 
[Che"!-  si-id  laugnter.}      My  uaderbtanding 
is  that  I  can  just  let  her  alone.      I   amn'o.v 


•ifti.'tli    vcar.    UIK!    I    <•• 

or  a  wife.    So  it 

to  get  alon^j   v.  i 

, 

that  1  ! 
'.in.  \\itnian  or  chilil 

.:'- 

recoll'-cl  ««r  but   on-:  <      ' 
•  ver  iicaid  ut'M- 

. 
• 

rd   M.  Johnson.    [Lauj2 
.  -  'J  liav 

am  not  goin«  to  outer  at  l?trgf 
ject,)  that  J  innl   tj 

i  rluil  [  or  i 

:.t\V   tO  li 

;  -hier]  but  an  .TudgoDt 
ls  seera       :          .'.'.-at  apj 
fhes  mi]  '     10  wt-rc  no  la 

trum  i;.  laughter]  I 

i  .-<>    jim  ple:l,<re 


4U/1A 


/    f^frs^-^ 


+y  e^jc^^*~*^<i  ' — *      d^t-v/    STIIS^/ 
^t^nv     <Jf  /A-^s^-o 


/ 


-  ^   ^Jij 

'.-^^       ^    fL>±s*-*J 


,  ^ 


'A-**^^/ 

&L<^ 


is'-TS^^y  4#^\s^     /Co         1~A^ 


<--C       cSV 


^c 

^v*> 


4— ^X^./ 


4 &**^J 


V 


^^, 


y<-«-/- 


;      tej~l^>^^ss 


/J 

ti/  6~ej£j^s~>    *n~s 

'  J? 

A^»-?         t^-^L*^       x^. 


r 


/ 


'/0/£e^c 
ts 


ft 


/ 


f/       /-•'2..^^-<.^~-^     4--^'^>^A 


zrr" 

„ _  feSSH^*^     . 

&cst^ce*J  t^sj&CZy  ^ 


j[/  /  4 

/^^C^^^^^f^jUf     ^H 


LINCOLN:  HIS  BOOK 


AN  EXPLANATORY  NOTE. 


Copyright,  1901,  by 
McClure,  Phillips  &  Co. 

New  York 


ABRAHAM 
LINCOLN 

/ 1 

HIS  BOOK 


A  FACSIMILE  REPRODUC 
TION    OF    THE    ORIGINAL 

\VITH  AX 

EXPLANATORY    NOTE 

BY 

J.  McCAN  DAVIS 


NEW    YORK: 
McCLURE,  PHILLIPS  &  CO. 

1901 


,  ..2. 


QIFT  OF 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— HIS  BOOK. 

This  book— the  only  one  now  or  over  extant 
of  its  illustrious  authorship— owes  its  exist 
ence  to  the  political  campaign  of  1S58,  when 
the  opposing  candidates  for  United  States 
Senator  from  Illinois  were  Abraham  Lincoln 
and  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  The  issue  iras 
slavery— whether,  as  Mr.  Lincoln  contended, 
it  should  be  restricted  to  the  states  in  which 
it  already  existed,  or,  as  Judge  Douglas  advo 
cated,  it  should  be  permitted  to  invade  the 
new  territories  if  agreeable  to  the  people 
thereof. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  at  that  time,  did  not  advocate 
emancipation.  He  made  no  demand  for  the 
liberation  of  the  slaves  then  in  bondaare.  He 
made  no  plea  for  negro  citizenship.  While  he 
regarded  slavery,  as  he  had  declared  as  early 
as  1837,  as  "founded  on  both  injustice  and 


—  Si- 
bad  policy,"  and  of  course  hoped  for  its 
"ultimate  extinction,"  he  recognized  its  con 
stitutional  status  in  the  states  in  which  it 
then  had  an  existence,  and,  without  any  pur 
pose  to  disturb  it  there,  raised  his  voice  only 
against  its  further  extension. 

His  position,  however,  was  constantly  mis 
stated  by  his  opponents.  Judge  Douglas  made 
the  charge  of  "abolitionism,"  and  the  accu 
sation  was  reiterated  throughout  the  state, 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  cam 
paign,  by  Democratic  orators  and  newspapers. 
It  was  charged  that  Lincoln  stood  for  the 
equality  of  the  races,  politically  and  socially; 
and  it  was  pointed  out,  with  alarm  and  in 
dignation,  that  should  his  doctrines  prevail, 
there  would  be  inevitable  social  and  political 
chaos.  Whites  and  blacks  would  intermarry 
promiscuously;  the  impassable  line  which 
had  so  long  separated  the  two  races  would  be 
wholly  obliterated;  the  hated  black  man 
would  be  invested  with  political  privileges 
which  hitherlo  had  been  counted  the  white 
man's  exclusive  and  sacred  rights. 


—  3- 

There  were  few  sections  of  Illinois  where 
prejudice  against  the  negro  was  stronger  than 
in  Sangaiuon  county,  the  home  of  Mr.  Lincoln. 
The  city  of  Springfield  and  the  adjacent 
country  was  inhabited  largely  by  natives  of 
Kentucky.  Before  coming  to  Illinois  they 
had  been  accustomed  to  slavery,  and,  while 
many  agreed  with  Mr.  Lincoln  that  the  insti 
tution  was  fundamentally  wrong  and  ought  to 
be  restricted,  the  remotest  suggestion  of  mak 
ing  a  negro  their  social  and  political  equal 
was  abhorrent.  It  was  this  prejudice  that  kept 
so  many  of  the  Whigs,  even  after  their  party 
was  manifestly  doomed  to  extinction,  from 
joining  the  new  Republican  party.  It  was 
this  influence  that  gave  Fillmore  his  strength 
in  Illinois  in  1856,  and,  by  dividing  the  anti- 
Democratic  forces,  gave  the  state's  electoral 
vote  to  Buchanan. 

The  widespread  fear  of  "negro  equality" 
was  at  once  recognized  by  Mr.  Lincoln  as  the 
most  portentous  obstacle  to  the  success  of 
the  new  party.  It  made  the  Old  Line  Whigs 
—his  life-long  political  associates- hesitant, 


wavering,  and  distrustful.  Some  of  them  had 
already  gone  over  to  the  Democracy. 

In  1857  there  was  no  longer  any  doubt  that 
the  Whig  party  could  never  survive  another 
election.  It  was,  in  truth,  already  dead. 
Many  of  the  Old  Whigs  of  Sangamon  county 
were  still  at  sea,  not  knowing  whither  to 
turn  for  safe  and  congenial  affiliations.  There 
were  really  but  two  courses  open— they  must 
join  the  new  Republican  party,  with  its  ad 
vanced  and  distrusted  doctrines  on  slavery,  or 
they  must  join  the  pro-slavery  Democracy, 
which  they  had  been  fighting  from  time  im 
memorial. 

It  was  this  dilemma  which  brought  to 
gether,  one  day  in  that  year,  a  few  Sangamon 
county  men  who  long  had  been  prominent  in 
the  Whig  party  councils.  The  assemblage,  in 
a  retrospective  view,  was  notable  and  historic, 
though  at  the  time  it  was  but  a  quiet  confer 
ence  of  friends,  for  whose  proceedings  we  are 
indebted  wholly  to  a  trustworthy  tradition. 
There  were  present,  among  others,  Judge 
Stephen  T.  Logan  and  Major  John  T.  Stuart, 


—  5  — 

both  of  whom  had  been  Lincoln's  law  part 
ners;  Colonel  John  Williams,  Major  Elijah 
lies,  and  Captain  James  >'.  Brown.  There  was 
a  full  and  frank  discussion  of  the  difficult 
problem.  Every  one  present  expressed  his 
views  and  intentions.  Some  had  joined  the 
Republicans  in  the  previous  year;  others 
were  now  ready  to  do  so,  while  several,  like 
Major  Stuart,  although  not  yet  prepared  to  go 
with  the  Democracy,  declared  that  they  never 
could  be  Republicans. 

Captain  Brown,  when  called  upon  to  state 
his  position,  said :  "  My  friends,  I  have  been  a 
Whig  all  my  life.  I  cannot  be  a  Democrat. 
From  this  time  on,  I  am  a  Lincoln  Re 
publican." 

Mr.  Lincoln,  up  to  this  point,  had  not  been 
present;  but  he  stepped  into  the  room  just  in 
time  to  hear  Captain  Brown's  declaration. 

This  conference  was  followed  by  another 
early  in  1858.  It  was  a  Republican  meeting 
this  time,  and  of  great  local  importance. 
Captain  Brown  was  there,  and  so  was  Lincoln. 
The  matter  under  consideration  was  the  per- 


—  6- 

sonnel  of  the  local  ticket  for  the  campaign 
then  about  to  open.  The  master  spirit  of  the 
occasion  was  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  talked  at  length 
and  emphasized  the  importance  of  a  policy 
which  would  set  at  rest  the  minds  of  the  Old 
Whigs  who  still  remained  practically  without 
a  party— showing  them  that  the  new  party 
was  not  the  exponent  of  "abolitionism,"  as 
had  been  alleged  against  it,  but  that  it  stood 
only  for  the  conservative  doctrine  of  the  re 
striction  of  slavery  to  existing  limitations. 
Captain  Brown,  like  Lincoln,  was  a  native  of 
Kentucky,  coming  of  a  distinguished  family 
of  that  state  (his  father,  Colonel  William 
Brown,  a  veteran  of  the  war  of  1812,  having 
served  in  Congress  with  Henry  Clay,  defeat 
ing  Colonel  Richard  M.  Johnson,  who  was  sub 
sequently  United  States  Senator  and  Vice- 
President).  He  had  been  a  life-long  Whig, 
and,  like  many  of  his  party  associates,  had 
kept  out  of  the  Republican  party  in  1856, 
voting  for  Fillmore.  He  had  long  been  a  per 
sonal  friend  of  Lincoln,  and  was,  moreover,  a 
man  of  blameless  reputation. 


>%• 

Mr.  Lincoln,  at  this  meeting,  urged  the 
nomination  of  Captain  Brown  as  one  of  the 
party's  candidates  for  the  legislature.  Brown 
did  not  want  the  nomination,  and  said  so;  he 
had  served  four  terms  in  the  House  (including 
one  term  with  Lincoln,  back  in  1840  and  '41), 
and  was  now  averse  to  longer  public  service. 
But  Lincoln  was  insistent,  and  made  an  argu 
ment  which  disclosed  in  him  the  astute  poli 
tician  that  all  recognized  him  to  be. 

"You  must  run,"  he  said  to  Brown.  "We 
cannot,  must  not,  nominate  an  Eastern  man ; 
he  would  be  beaten.  We  must  have  the  votes 
of  the  Old  Line  Whigs.  You  have  been  a 
Whig;  you  are  a  Kentuckian;  jou  have  been 
a  slave-holder.  You  will  get  the  support  of 
the  large  conservative  element— the  Old  Line 
Whisrs  and  the  men  of  Southern  birth  and 
sympathies  who,  while  willing  to  let  slavery 
remain  where  it  is,  are  with  us  against 
its  further  extension,  but  who  would  be 
afraid  to  trust  an  Eastern  man,"  and  he 
called  off  the  names  of  a  half-hundred  Old 
Line  Whiars  of  local  prominence  who  would 


—  8  — 

vote  for  such  a  man  as  Brown,  but  would  op 
pose  a  candidate  of  Eastern  birth  or  of  doubt 
ful  antecedents. 

Captain  Brown,  persuaded  to  an  accept 
ance  by  Lincoln's  unanswerable  logic,  was 
later  nominated  for  the  lower  branch  of 
the  General  Assembly,  his  associate  on  the 
ticket  being  John  Cook,  sou  of  a  Kentuckian, 
and  afterwards  a  Union  General  in  the  Civil 
War. 

Popular  feeling  was  intensified  as  the  cam 
paign  progressed.  The  old  prejudice  against 
the  negro,  inbred  in  the  men  of  Southern 
nativity — the  heritage  of  many  generations 
of  perverted  opinion— was  found  deep-rooted 
and  bitter.  Entering  upon  his  canvass,  Captain 
Brown  was  confronted  everywhere  with  the 
charge  that  Lincoln  stood  for  "negro  equal 
ity,"  social  and  political. 

"Why,  Brown!"  his  old  friends  would  say, 
in  astonishment,  "  How  can  you,  a  Ken 
tuckian,  yourself  once  a  slaveholder,  stand 
for  a  Black  Abolitionist— a  man  who  says  the 
negro  is  your  equal  and  mine  I " 


-9  — 

Personally,  of  course,  Captaiu  Brown  un 
derstood  Lincoln's  position  perfectly;  but 
there  were  many  whom  he  found  it  impos 
sible  to  convince  that  Lincoln  held  no  such 
views  as  were  ascribed  to  him. 

He  felt  the  necessity  for  something  authori 
tative—a  statement  from  Mr.  Lincoln  himself, 
setting  forth  his  views  in  lucid  and  unmis 
takable  language.  Late  in  the  campaign  he 
asked  Mr.  Lincoln  for  such  a  statement.  Mr. 
Lincoln  went  over  his  published  speeches  for 
several  previous  years,  including  those  in  his 
debate  with  Douglas  just  then  concluded,  and 
clipped  out  whatever  he  had  said  on  the  sub 
ject  of  "negro  equality."  These  extracts  he 
pasted  into  a  small  pocket  memorandum  book, 
making  explanatory  notes  wherever  needed. 
He  supplemented  this  printed  matter  with  a 
letter  addressed  to  Captain  Brown,  filling 
eight  pages  of  the  little  book.  This  letter, 
containing  the  essence  of  all  he  had  previously 
said,  was  the  most  recent  and  authoritative 
statement  of  his  views  which  he  could  pos 
sibly  have  made,  and  it  was  precisely  the 


-10  — 

thing  which  liis  friend  and  supporter  had  felt 
the  need  of  throughout  his  canvass. 

The  close  of  the  campaign  was  near,  only 
about  two  weeks  of  it  remaining,  but  the 
time  was  fully  utilized  by  Captain  Brown. 
He  carried  the  book  in  his  pocket,  and  when 
ever  Lincoln's  "negro  equality"  views  were 
questioned— and  this  must  have  been  many 
times  every  day,  in  the  course  of  his  public 
speeches  and  private  conversations— he  would 
produce  the  book  and  read  from  it  "  Lincoln's 
own  words,"  placed  there  by  Lincoln  himself 
only  a  few  days  before. 

But  no  argument  was  strong  enough  to  over 
come  the  prejudice  then  so  widespread  and 
unreasoning,  and  both  legislative  candidates 
(one  of  Southern  birth,  and  the  other  of 
Southern  ancestry)  failed  of  election. 

The  book,  of  course,  had  been  intended  by 
Mr.  Lincoln  only  to  meet  a  temporary  require 
ment,  and  very  likely  he  had  no  idea  that  it 
would  survive  the  campaign  of  1858;  but 
Captain  Brown  carefully  preserved  it  and  must 
have  carried  it  with  him  in  1860  and  in  sub- 


1 1  - 

sequent  campaigns,  for  lie  filled  out  the  re 
maining  leaves  with  many  later  newspaper 
scraps  of  his  own  selection. 

Captain  Brown  died  in  1868.  The  Lincoln 
scrap-book  passed  to  his  sons,  William  and 
Benjamin  W.  Brown,  of  Grove  Park,  Illinois, 
by  whom  it  is  still  owned,  and  to  whom  we 
are  indebted  for  the  facts  pertaining  to  its 
history. 

It  is  the  unique  renown  of  this  book  that  it 
is  the  only  one  ever  written  or  compiled  by 
Abraham  Lincoln.  It  is  reproduced  here,  as 
nearly  as  possible,  precisely  as  it  came  from 
his  pen  and  his  hand. 

J.  McCAX  DAVIS. 


A  "PARAMOUNT  ISSUE" 

IN  1858. 


XOTE.— On  the  opposite  page  is  the  "scare 
head"  of  a  double-leaded  article  which  the 
"Illinois  State  Register "  kept  standing  in 
its  columns  for  some  time  previous  to  the 
election  of  1858.  The  "State  Register"  was 
the  organ  of  Senator  Douglas  at  the  State 
Capital.  The  article  illustrates  the  preemi 
nence  of  "negro  equality"  as  an  issue  in  the 
campaign  of  1858,  from  the  Democratic  point 
of  view.  J.  McC.  D. 


PEOPLE    OF   SANGAMON! 

REMEMBER 
A  TOTE  FOR  COOK  AND  BROWN 

IS  A  VOTE  FOR 

LINCOLN  AND  NEGRO 
EQUALITY! 

VOTE  FOR 

BARRET  and  SHORT 

AND  SUSTAIN 

DOUGLAS 

A\D 

POPULAR  RIGHTS. 


of  Ca 


p  £0 

o  $ 


D 

n 


